Metro Life Score
Dover, DE
Bottom-quartile composite Life Score — grade D, 5th percentile of the national corpus.
- 37.8
- Life Score / 100
- D
- Grade (curved)
- #368
- of 387 metros
- 5%
- composite percentile
Data updated August 2026
Verify: BEA · BLS · HUD · FBI · NCES · EPA · Census · Report a data issue · Data changelog
The verdict
Dover is bottom-quartile composite Life Score — #368 of 387 (37.8/100, grade D, 5th percentile). Carried by wages at 52/100; held back most by schools at 25/100.
- 5th
- composite percentile
- #368
- of 387 peers
- 31st
- cost dimension percentile
- 52nd
- wages dimension percentile
Life Score shape · BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · signature composite
Dover: bottom-third composite — where the drag concentrates
Dover sits in the bottom third of the metro corpus on composite (#368 of 387, 37.8/100, 5th percentile). Stamps BOTTOM · WAGE-LED; Schools at 25/100 is the main drag; Wages (52/100) keeps the floor. Cost/wage marks DEAR/MID. According to PlainCompare's federal Life Score corpus ranking, Dover, DE ranks #368 of 387 metros by composite Life Score (highest = #1) and #267 of 387 by cost-of-living dimension score (highest = #1). Methodology.
BEA RPP 97.5 (rent-RPP 95.9). BLS median salary $64,394, 59,250 jobs (Fast Food and Counter Workers, Home Health and Personal Care Aides, Cashiers). HUD 2BR FMR $1,470/mo (studio $1,158).
FBI UCR (DE): 368 violent, 1773 property/100K. NCES: 14.4:1 ratio, 10.3% charter. DOL infant childcare $11,172/yr. EPA: 26 Superfund sites (DE).
Where Dover sits among all US metros
Composite Life Score vs the national field
38 5th percentile higher than 5% of 387 US metros
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more US metros. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainCompare composite of BEA, BLS, HUD, FBI, NCES, DOL, EPA data · August 2026
How the 37.8 is built
Dover's Life Score, decomposed
Dimension detail
How Dover scores, dimension by dimension
Score Breakdown
Dimension Scores
Key Data Points
Geography used: crime, schools, childcare, and environment cards above are DE state-level when metro-specific feeds are unavailable, see the scope key at the top of this page.
Compare Dover With...
Ranking Context
Dover outranks 5% of U.S. metros.
| Rank | Metro | Score | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| #365 | Salinas, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #366 | Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA | 38.2 | D |
| #367 | Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN | 38.2 | D |
| #368 | Dover, DE | 37.8 | D |
| #369 | Ithaca, NY | 37.4 | D |
| #370 | Santa Fe, NM | 37.4 | D |
| #371 | Great Falls, MT | 37.3 | D |
Quality vs. Affordability
Dover, DE is bottom 5% lowest-quality nationally and also bottom 31% least affordable -- a rarer combination among its composite-quality peers, where overall rank and affordability rank usually diverge more than this.
Read with Dover
Nearest composite peers and cost poles for Dover (BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID), replacing the fixed Explore/Guides strip.
Ithaca, NY
ABS(composite) peer at 37.4 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID.
Santa Fe, NM
ABS(composite) peer at 37.4 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); lower Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID.
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID.
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA
ABS(composite) peer at 38.2 (Δ 0.4 vs this metro); higher Life Score · grade D vs this page's BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID.
Longview-Kelso, WA (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 31/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC (cost pole)
ABS(cost_score) orthogonal peer at 31/100 (Δ 0); cost stamp DEAR vs this metro's DEAR.
Dover, DE relocation guide
Stamp-branched guide for BOTTOM · WAGE-LED · DEAR/MID - how to read federal Life Score inputs before a move.
Using Dover's bottom-third Life Score
Dover scores 37.8/100 overall, but Wages (52.1) and Schools (24.6) sit 27.5 points apart, so decide which of the two matters more to you before leaning on the total.
- Wages is the strongest of Dover's seven dimensions (weighted 20% in the composite); if it is your priority, this is where the metro earns its rank. See all seven dimensions
- Schools is the weakest (weighted 10% in the composite); if it is a dealbreaker, weigh it before the ranking does. Rank metros on the composite
- Paducah is the nearest comparison this page can offer; put the two side by side on the same seven dimensions. Compare with Paducah
A low composite is a weighted blend; individual dimensions can still be strong.